On 20 Oct 2003 12:19:08 -0700, (The Black
Monk) wrote:

[...]

At Khalkyn Gol between May and September 1939 the Japanese were
crushed by Zhukov, sustaining over 80,000 casualties to the Russians'
11,130. Within a single week the Japanses lost 25,000 men. The
entire Japanese 6th army was completely destroyed.

The Battle of Khalkin Gol was Zhukov's illustration of Deep
Penetration tactics. The use of deception tactics, extremely fast
tanks and mechanized forces to outflank an opponent's defenses, and
the combination of aerial, airborne, and ground troops lead to the
complete destruction of the Japanese 6th Army and to Japan's loss of a
sphere of influence in the Mongolian and Far Eastern regions.

This battle also featured the first successful use of air-to-air
missiles. Five Polikarpov I-16 Type 10 fighters under the command of
Capt. Zvonarev claimed destruction two Mitsubishi A5M by RS-82
unguided rockets.

Historians describe a conflict within the Japanese military about
whether to attack the USSR or the USA. The complete defeat att he
hands of the Soviets made that decision:

Also, Hitler did not *ask* for Japan's assistance when he was planning
Barbarossa in the spring of 1941. Instead, he hid his plans from
visiting Japanese foreign minister Matsuoka in March 1941, and
encouraged Matsuoka to sign a non-aggression pact with Stalin in April
1941. In retrospect, this was a disastrous mistake by Hitler; at the
time, he probably expected to walk over Russia easily, and didn't want
to share the spoils.
By the time stiff Soviet resistance changed Hitler's mind and he
sought Japanese intervention in late summer 1941, it was too late:
Japan was preoccupied with US President F.D. Roosevelt's oil embargo,
announced on 26 July.

Pearl Harbor happened because
the Japanese chose to attack the weaker foe.

Their hand was forced by FDR's oil embargo (by diplomatic arrangement
with Great Britain and the Netherlands government-in-exile, then in
control of Indonesia).

Perhaps they would have done better to take a defensive attitude
toward the US fleet at Pearl Harbor while seizing the oil fields in
Indonesia. Pearl Harbor vaporized isolationist sentiment in the USA,
while a far-off colonial war might not have.

--Hugo S. Cunningham